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Abortion rights advocates will not launch ballot drive to repeal controversial new insurance law

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Mary Pollock, legislative vice president for the Michigan National Organization for Women, tells students about abortion insurance legislation during a Capitol rally on December 26, 2013.
(Jonathan Oosting | MLive.com)

LANSING, MI -- Reproductive rights groups opposed to Michigan's new abortion insurance law will not seek to overturn it at the ballot box in 2014.

The ACLU of Michigan, along with state chapters of Planned Parenthood and the National Organization of Women, had been considering a referendum to repeal the law, which prohibits insurers from covering most abortions unless a woman or her employer has purchased an additional rider in advance.

"The timing is just not right for a referendum or initiative at this point," Rana Elmir, deputy director for the ACLU of Michigan, said Tuesday.

"Our research indicates that there's a growing dissatisfaction and frustration in Michigan with regards to government overreach into women and their family's private lives, but rather than put our resources or efforts into a one-off referendum or initiative, the goal will be to create a broad strategy that addresses this growing frustration with politicians involving themselves in women's lives."

Under Michigan law, the coalition would have had a 90-day window to collect 162,000 signatures to place a referendum on the 2014 ballot, a tall task at any time made more difficult by the realities of winter weather.

The coalition conducted internal polling earlier this year as it considered launching a ballot drive, but Elmir said the group decided not to set precedent by releasing the results. Previous third-party polling suggested voter opposition to the insurance restrictions.

"There a desire and an anger out there about this law, but the fact is that elections are right around the corner," she said. "We'll be better suited to pull together a proactive strategy rather than putting out this one fire."

Right to Life of Michigan collected more than 258,000 valid signatures to send the bill to the Republican-led Legislature, which approved the proposal in late December -- making it law. Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed a similar measure in 2012, but the voter-initiated legislation did not require his signature this time around.

Ed Rivet, legislative director for Right to Life, said he was not surprised that opponents are backing off talk of a ballot drive and opined that their internal polling may not have been as promising as they are letting on.

"They're just being pragmatic," Rivet said. "I would suggest the claims we've been making for months -- that the public doesn't want this built into their insurance -- was right all along, and the policy is now in place."

While the proposal prompted heated debate in Lansing last month, the full impact of the new law remains unclear. State statistics show that just 3.3 percent of abortions performed here in 2012 were covered by insurance. Self-funded health plans offered by some large employers and government agencies are unlikely to be affected.

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter.